New Order Buries Punk With Muffled Chants, Fuzzy Guitar

Members of the U.K. band New Order, Stephen Morris (keyboards), Phil Cunningham (guitar), Bernard Sumner (vocals), Tom Chapman (bass) and Gillian Gilbert (keyboards). They have reformed, apart from bassist Peter Hook, for a series of shows in North America later this year. The band first plays at London's Olympics Closing ceremony on Aug. 12, 2012. Photographer: Kevin Cummings/ New Order via Bloomberg

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- We should be rejoicing this summer
with the return of some great British bands who are playing
festivals worldwide and events for the London Olympics.

The excellent Blur will be barnstorming in Hyde Park after
releasing some new songs and a box set of complete recordings.
Manchester groups re-forming include the Stone Roses, with long-awaited shows in Asia and Europe; the Happy Mondays; and New
Order, which performs alongside Blur in a concert marking the
end of the 2012 Olympics on Aug. 12.

New Order has also announced a U.S. tour. The act’s recent
gigs suggest that disappointment awaits.

Its set doesn’t reflect the illustrious history of a band
that started in the 1970s as Joy Division. Punk’s harsh sound
was transfigured into something majestic and desolate. With the
suicide of singer Ian Curtis in 1980, New Order added keyboards,
drum machines and disco beats.

The biggest travesty is the new version of the 1983 single
“Blue Monday,” which prefigured the electronic house-music
explosion of the 1990s.

New Order’s bassist Peter Hook left in 2006 and has kept up
a rant of cantankerous criticism against his former colleagues.
His spikiness translated into his playing. Replacement Tom
Chapman turns the pithy lines into noodly rock posturing, which
is misplaced in the middle of ascetic motor-disco.

Everyman Limitations

In short, New Order now plays with the vigor of a turnip
and makes a sound like over-boiled cabbage. This was always a
band that made virtues of its limitations. A lack of
compositional finesse meant stronger song ideas. Bernard
Sumner’s modest technique gave his singing an everyman honesty.
Onstage, wearing nondescript black, only the limitations remain.

Poor sound at some venues hasn’t helped, turning the spiky
twang of guitars into mulch that swamps much of the vocals.
Sumner strains like an asthmatic puppy. A few strangled whoops
fail to convey real excitement. Mumbled chats to the audience
are largely indecipherable.

The bright synths of “Bizarre Love Triangle” are clumsy
and muffled. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” has its devastated
heart torn out with power-rock rousings and skippity hi-hats.

There are too few moments of glory. “Transmission” still
sounds monumental, Sumner spitting bewildered punk bile over
gray guitars. Only “True Faith” and “Temptation,” with their
dance beats and elegant soccer-terrace choruses, have the drive
and discipline to make the band worthy of its reputation.

Rating: *.

New Order’s dates include Lokerse Feesten, Belgium, on Aug.
10 and the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Aug 12. The band plays
Summer Sonic in Japan; Bestival; Majorca Rocks; Ibiza Rocks and
a North American tour starting on Oct. 5 in San Francisco.